Rig search ongoing to get Southeast Asian gas drilling project back on track

February 10, 2026, by Melisa Cavcic

UK-based and AIM-listed Sunda Energy, formerly Baron Oil, is setting the stage to undertake its planned drilling campaign on a gas field off the coast of Timor-Leste, Southeast Asia.

An offshore rig — Illustration; Source: Sunda Energy, former Baron Oil

Following several delays due to the overrun in drilling activities of other operators using its preferred rig, a non-binding letter of intent (LOI) was signed in December 2024 with an undisclosed drilling contractor for commercial negotiations of a definitive deal to spud the Chuditch-2 appraisal well on the Chuditch field in the TL-SO-19-16 production sharing contract (PSC).

The company’s wholly owned Timor-Leste subsidiary, SundaGas Banda Unipessoal, which acts as the operator in partnership with its government-owned joint venture partner, Timor Gap Chuditch Unipessoal (Timor Gap), previously planned to begin drilling the well in H2 2025, but later changed the start-up of activities to H1 2026.

SundaGas is continuing in its efforts to secure a rig to drill Chuditch-2, although the planned contracting of a jack-up rig by the end of 2025 was unfortunately not achieved. The firm has several ongoing initiatives in parallel to secure suitable drilling rigs, in consultation with Timor Gap and upstream regulator, Autoridade Nacional do Petróleo (ANP).

The procedure for issuances of an environmental licence for drilling Chuditch-2 has taken longer than anticipated, owing to extensive feedback and clarification requests arising from various iterations between ANP and Sunda’s HSE and operations teams of the key environmental impact statement (EIS) and environmental management plan (EMP) documents.

The operator is hopeful that it can report positive progress and provide more information in the near future. The company has been liaising closely with ANP, resulting in the latest versions of the EIS and EMP having been submitted and these documents will today be uploaded onto the firm’s website.

Following this resubmission, the evaluation committee established by ANP will convene and then have five regulatory working days to complete their assessment of the EIS and EMP, after which ANP will complete the final processes for award of an environmental licence, for which regulations permit up to 25 business days.

SundaGas continues to discuss a revised farm-in agreement with Timor Gap, along the lines of the deal announced in April 2025 and subsequently terminated in June 2025. If executed, the farm-in is expected to be on similar terms to the April 2025 agreement and to include provisions for accelerated funding to assist the company in all its contracting preparations for the drilling of Chuditch-2.

The timing of a farm-in is expected to be aligned with the execution of a rig contract and to support Sunda’s broader, ongoing efforts to secure funding for the drilling of Chuditch. The firm also notes what it describes as the highly encouraging progress being made by the government of Timor-Leste towards the development of offshore gas resources in Timor-Leste.

This entails the joint exploration studies announced by Petronas Carigali, Timor Gap, and ANP, the acceleration of discussions between the parties involved in the Greater Sunrise project, and the push to establish onshore and offshore gas infrastructure, which is anticipated to be key to future Chuditch gas exports.

Dr Andy Butler, Sunda’s CEO, commented: “Getting the Timor-Leste project back on track after the postponed Chuditch-2 campaign has proved challenging, but the team remains focussed on securing a new rig and progressing as quickly as possible towards drilling.”